Having accepted the challenge, Giergerich set about filling out the 31-odd page application, which included short to medium 400- to 800-word explanation of details of how the school functions.

They included “our instructional process, the indictors of our academic success, and the way we communicate with the families our students,” Giergerich said Thursday in his office.

All this was going on as the school was gearing up for the new Common Core standards and dealing with the state tests – along with the usual demands on a school administrator’s time.

“I had some great collaborators — a fair number of the staff members who did help me,” said Giegerich, who is in his ninth year as principal.

Once he completed the application, “Everything in it had to be affirmed by the state” before it was submitted to the Department of Education, Giergerich said.

“They had a cadre of editors down in D.C. who reviewed everything we submitted,” Giegerich said. “They sent back the application with three edits” – one of which involved capitalizing Common Core on a single page.

“We put together a solid application,” Giegerich said.

More than just a measure of the school’s success, Giegerich said the award is a communal achievement.

In Portland, “We look at every student as an individual, and we try to meet their individual needs. It’s a culture that permeates this entire town, that ‘School Counts,’” Giegerich said.

“We value education. It’s something that started under Sally (Doyen, who retired as superintendent in September) and that has continued under Dr. (Philip) O’Reilly,” the new superintendent.

“We motivate our kids to perform at the level that is expected of them” he said.

“It’s about this town, it’s all about this community. It’s all about a culture that says each student can rise to his or her optimum,” Giegerich said.

The award is also a tribute to the school staff, Giegerich said.

“It’s not just about knowing and caring what they teach but also about who they teach,” he said.

“I am certainly proud and pleased and excited. It affirms that we do what we are supposed to do, and we do it together in this locale,” Giegerich said.

MaryAnne Rode, the chairwoman of the Board of Education, was equally excited by the award.

“This was some very exciting news,” Rode said Wednesday, during a break in the Board of Selectmen’s meeting.

“This is the result of an incredible amount of hard work by the students, teachers, administrators and the Board of Ed, with the support of the voters who approved budget after budget to enable the schools to accomplish great things,” Rode said.

Board Secretary Andrea Alford, who accompanied Rode to the selectmen’s meeting noted that this is the second time a Portland school has won the coveted blue ribbon.

In 2011, the Brownstone Intermediate School was also honored.

“We are elated – and the people of Portland should be very proud,” Alfano said.

In announcing the award with what he said was “great pride,” Supt. O’Reilly said, “This is a well-deserved award for the entire Portland community!”

Giergerich will travel to Washington, D.C., in November to pick up the award in person.

He is allowed to bring a guest, and Giergerich chose Diane Stotling, a seventh-grade team leader, to accompany him as a representative of the staff.

A 15-year veteran of the school system, Stotling “is a presence in this school system every single day,” Giegerich said.